Music Reviews Tech
Emotional electronics, from Mexicali’s underground beacon: four essential releases
We live in dissonant, uncertain times, and maybe our consciousness struggles if we try to make it fit square corners and easy forms. So now is a perfect time to feature long-time favorite label Facade Electronics out of northern Mexico. Their opening releases of the year, from artists dotting different parts of the world, flow into a narrative — one uncomfortable, sublime, beautiful.
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Maggi Payne, photographing crystals, composing for Moog modular III, more
Texas-born composer Maggi Payne has just quietly been busy being a legend over decade after decade. Well known to Mills College (as its Center for Contemporary Music co-director until 2018), if you don’t know her, you should. And this is just the kind of Sunday to gaze at some crystals and listen to her ethereal textures on the then already-vintage Moog modular Series III, in a tip straight from The Bob Moog Foundation.
Peter Kirn - May 17, 2026
Tech
Tim Exile built an experimental modular system, all about playability
“Music production feels pointless now,” says Tim — but years after walking away from DAWs, he’s embraced instrument building. New Modular System is a patchable environment, constructed in Reaktor, that’s truly Exile-ish in philosophy. It’s not about a bunch of wire connections. You drop in colored modules and get straight to tweaking, generating, and playing — with wild, massively diverse results.
Peter Kirn - April 28, 2026
Music tech Software Tech
Stillness and radical presence: Mercurial Cycles mix from Hüma Utku
Peter Kirn - March 20, 2026
Music
